MechWarrior Online: How do I change the title using UI 2.0?

They're Canadians, you send them enough Maple Syrup™ and they will pretty much anything you want. Why else do you think they have a strategic reserve of the suff?

Due to the maple syrup strategic reserve, the stuff is so ubiquitous here that it's pretty pointless to attempt to bribe one of us with it -- it's like trying to bribe an American with additional gun violence.

XL210's are useless outside of commandos and some specialized super slow heaver mech builds. XL255 weighs exactly the same as the XL250 and there isn't a single mech in the game that can use one but not the other so never buy an XL250. IMO, the most valuable XL engines to have around are in order: XL300, XL325, XL280, XL255. After that you start getting into engines that you want to run on specific mechs/chassis. I would only recommend picking up an XL340 if you really want to put the max engine in either a Cicada or a Cataphract everything else either can't use it or is better off with either an XL325 or XL350.

A couple additional points:

The CN9-D, TBT-3C, and AS9-K come stock with an XL300; the CTF-3D comes stock with the XL280; and the STK-5S comes with an XL255. Most of the MC-purchasable champions and hero 'mechs also come with XL engines as stock. So, you may want to keep that in mind when you are ready to buy an XL engine by itself.

When I was running Dragons and Catapults, I used the XL300 exclusively. It has seen heavy usage with Trebuchets and Quickdraws. If you intend to sit in that "heavy-medium to medium-heavy" range of 'mechs, I can't recommend this engine enough. It is simply the most-important XL engine in the game, by far. For the other engines, it really is a "build it in Smurfy first; do I have the money?" mentality. I really only bought additional XL engines because I had a ton of money.

I would throw on the XL360 engine on that list as well for the maximum engine size for Dragons and Quickdraws, and as a good Victor engine.

The last thing to point out is that, after the XL300, power-rating generally "costs" more tonnage per increment than below the 300. The difference between an XL250 and XL300 is 3 tons of weight; between an XL300 and XL350 is 6.5 tons; and between an XL350 and XL400 is 11.5 tons. It's important to keep that in mind when you want to buy a new engine.

edit- Oh and lookitthat. For every piece you blow off with streaks, you increase your chances of hitting other limbs before torso sections. And destroyed legs can still be targeted by streaks.... wow, those are the dumbest guided missiles around.

Something something damage transfer something something.

So we can get convergence removed from indirect fire weapons but not direct fire weapons. Well, let's all go enjoy the massively over-complicated heat rules!

So we can get convergence removed from indirect fire weapons but not direct fire weapons. Well, let's all go enjoy the massively over-complicated heat rules!

These are salient points.

Where is missile damage at currently? Higher than TT or even?

I wanna say that LRM and SRM damage are finally back at TT values...Streaks remain lower, though. Seriously, removing convergence would also have the added benefit of "enforcing" that .5s delay that PGI wants between things like AC/20 shots. A BoomJag would need to torso twist to aim the first AC/20, shoot, and torso twist again to shoot the same spot. BoomCats would actually benefit because their AC/20s are practically nose-mounted, but BoomCats are tougher to run.

edit- the only weapons that should have convergence is weapons on full-arms. I want to say this means having both upper and lower arm actuators, but for some reason I keep thinking Catapults have lower arm actuators and yet still can't turn their arms side to side. Can anyone check on that one to confirm?

Regardless, Jagers, like Catapults, should not have the ability to turn their arms horizontally independent of the torso, only vertically.

Tried out my boomjager. The heat scaling isn't a big deal. I can chain fire them to almost the same effect as before. HOWEVER, the damage at 100% is fucking brutal. I commonly bring my mechs to the point of shutting down. That's going to have to stop. 6 PPC stalkers would fire and die immediately I think.

edit: Ok, you overheat on one shot alone. Takes three shots of doing this from base heat to die.

edit- the only weapons that should have convergence is weapons on full-arms. I want to say this means having both upper and lower arm actuators, but for some reason I keep thinking Catapults have lower arm actuators and yet still can't turn their arms side to side. Can anyone check on that one to confirm?

Regardless, Jagers, like Catapults, should not have the ability to turn their arms horizontally independent of the torso, only vertically.

I made this point pages ago. Allowing convergence only for fully-articulated arms makes the most sense. And when they add crit damage to actuators one of the consequences is lost convergence. You'd need a multi-spot reticle to show where your shots will land, The spacing of the spots will depend on the range. That would be awesome

You can, and I have. Today was fun though! The games were much closer than many we've had in the past few weeks. Also appreciated the blood orange on black, it was neat to have colour coded teams. So next week we do tie breakers.

Indeed! Next week, we might just have to cheeseball with the trials again

edit- the only weapons that should have convergence is weapons on full-arms. I want to say this means having both upper and lower arm actuators, but for some reason I keep thinking Catapults have lower arm actuators and yet still can't turn their arms side to side. Can anyone check on that one to confirm?

Regardless, Jagers, like Catapults, should not have the ability to turn their arms horizontally independent of the torso, only vertically.

I made this point pages ago. Allowing convergence only for fully-articulated arms makes the most sense. And when they add crit damage to actuators one of the consequences is lost convergence. You'd need a multi-spot reticle to show where your shots will land, The spacing of the spots will depend on the range. That would be awesome

FYI Cats do not have lower arm actuators.

I thought someone else mentioned this. Yeah, the downside is that the multi-spot reticles will have to be designed per chassis variant, but that shouldn't be too tough. Have a "center dot" to annotate your actual straight-forward spot, smaller standard crosses for off-set torso guns (would REALLY help with CTFs and AS7s), and a set of smaller spots for non-converged arm weapons.

I am enjoying the diversity in mech builds that people are running with right now. I really hope it lasts...

That being said, SplatCat splatterin' time -> full force in effect.

Well, the upshot of the new heatscale is that I won't have to strip-off Artemis to properly fit all SRM6s. I believe the optimal loading is 6/4/4x2 to fit XL-300, AMS, and Artemis. Can't remember for sure. Also can't remember what you really need to give up for JumpJets. Might break out my Splatcat for old time's sake.

How likely is it an unstated reluctance to remove convergence is the need to then model x(y) trajectories/hits vs. x and whatever info needs to move across pipelines? Or just modelling x(y) trajectories/hits in general. (I'm thinking not, since LRMs already effectively do this.)

I would love to see the split crosshairs as proposed above. Convergence is a hot mess of issues currently getting an even hotter mess (no pun intended. maybe.) of patchwork 'solutions'. The boating heat penalties are needlessly obtuse and limiting, esp considering proposed 'free pass' chassis.

It's not like more crosshairs are all that complex. At most you would be adding 2. Center and arms already exist. Head can align with center. So all you need are l/r torso, which would create a rather intuitive triangle shape. Certainly far less obfuscated than 'weapon 1 over 2, weapon 2 over 2, weapon 1 counts as weapon 2, weapon 3 over 1, weapon 4 over 6, etc.' + 'chassis 1 is weapon 4 over 8, etc'.

Seriously. Just, ugh.

And if the Locust center turret mount doesn't follow the arm reticle I will be sorely disappointed.

It's not like more crosshairs are all that complex. At most you would be adding 2.

Normally, I agree with you. It would make the game much more true to the simulator feel that MW games previously had.

However, people have a hard enough time with just ONE reticle (if they have arm lock enabled). To introduce even more would throw half of the internet into complete disarray. Personally, I'd love to see some torso weapons have their own reticle(s), but I don't know if that's going to be going into the game any time soon (or at all). Can you imagine the butthurt of all the new players then?

It's not like more crosshairs are all that complex. At most you would be adding 2.

Normally, I agree with you. It would make the game much more true to the simulator feel that MW games previously had.

However, people have a hard enough time with just ONE reticle (if they have arm lock enabled). To introduce even more would throw half of the internet into complete disarray. Personally, I'd love to see some torso weapons have their own reticle(s), but I don't know if that's going to be going into the game any time soon (or at all). Can you imagine the butthurt of all the new players then?

kberg? Brian? Care to respond?

Eh, sort of apples and oranges. Umm. Kind of. The 'problem' certain folks have with the arm reticle is not that a second reticle exists, it is that the reticle moves independently. R/L Torso reticles would be locked in place.

Think of it like this... If a new player is already aiming center mass with their center reticle odds are their R/L Torso reticles will hit. Their arm reticles may be turning the sand beneath their heavy metal feet into slagged glass, but their torso weapons will still be hitting. Just not all at the exact same pinpoint.

How likely is it an unstated reluctance to remove convergence is the need to then model x(y) trajectories/hits vs. x and whatever info needs to move across pipelines? Or just modelling x(y) trajectories/hits in general. (I'm thinking not, since LRMs already effectively do this.)

It's already being done in game. Easiest way to see it (for me) is to load up a dual AC/20 build in the testing grounds, sweep the target reticle from the ground near you into the air and fire. The bullet tracks make an "X" pattern.

I thought someone else mentioned this. Yeah, the downside is that the multi-spot reticles will have to be designed per chassis variant, but that shouldn't be too tough. Have a "center dot" to annotate your actual straight-forward spot, smaller standard crosses for off-set torso guns (would REALLY help with CTFs and AS7s), and a set of smaller spots for non-converged arm weapons.

If they are too lazy to do that then make convergence of all weapons a configurable value in the mechlab. Then the crosshairs are the point when all weapons meet assuming the target is at the configured distance.

This wouldn't be too difficult for players to adapt to. When I was running a Hunchback-SP I quickly realized that SRMs have a habit of moving closer and further apart at intervals, I looked up those values and aimed accordingly.

I thought someone else mentioned this. Yeah, the downside is that the multi-spot reticles will have to be designed per chassis variant, but that shouldn't be too tough. Have a "center dot" to annotate your actual straight-forward spot, smaller standard crosses for off-set torso guns (would REALLY help with CTFs and AS7s), and a set of smaller spots for non-converged arm weapons.

If they are too lazy to do that then make convergence of all weapons a configurable value in the mechlab. Then the crosshairs are the point when all weapons meet assuming the target is at the configured distance.

This wouldn't be too difficult for players to adapt to. When I was running a Hunchback-SP I quickly realized that SRMs have a habit of moving closer and further apart at intervals, I looked up those values and aimed accordingly.

Eh I wouldn't call laziness. They are certainly valid concerns around usability and such. I just find convergence and the issues surrounding it so abhorrent I have an ongoing fear they'll get so far down the rabbit hole of balancing based on convergence that eventually removing convergence becomes impossible. At some point the code becomes too invested. Maybe we are already there. I hope not.

I continue to dream.

I love the idea of differentiating chassis via reticle placement as well. One could argue this is complex for a new user... but so is heat boating rules. The differentied reticles have a point in their benefit in being immediately visible to a new user. You don't need to look anything up; it is right there on your screen, front and center. Or off center.

In the MWO universe, there are no rear-facing weapons and heads are stationary. To make head-mounted weapons track with the arms, they'd have to redo the models for mechs with head-mounted weapons just to allow them to track independently of the body.

What I'm really enjoying about all these fidgety little balancing tweaks is that I now need an army of mech nerds to tell me where things stand, which pants to wear.

That's good, because what I really enjoy is having to analyze and hash out the impacts to 'mech design, 'mech piloting, lance composition, tactic and strategy considerations, the overall meta-game, adherence to canon erotic fan-fic, and realigning our predictions on future game alterations with the rest of the army of 'mech nerds and then having the nerd-to-dawg translators break it down so we can have your updates ready for you before you log on so you don't run around wearing pants again.

Speaking of which, after careful analysis of the newest patch with the other 'mech nerds and the fact we saw our shadows, I have been advised to say, "No, still no pants, and no pants for the next six weeks".

I wish it was possible to bind one button to two groups. Like, hit fire1 and groups 1 and two fire in chain fire. So you could have say, a 4 PPC stalker that fires 2 PPCs at a time, but in chain fire, by holding down only one button. The weapon grouping stuff would have to be reworked a bit to make that happen though.

That's right, you better...I mean Donovan better get back to ghost writing.

What did you say; you want some excerpts from the fourth book of Curtis Pensworth Xandros's your wildly successful erotic fan-fic "Running Hot" series? Well, okay, but just this once...

In 'Throbbing Dakka', CPX wrote:

... Cassie Suthorn struggled powerlessly as she was roughly bent over the one-ton of gauss ammo. She felt Charles Prince Xavier's meat Atlas grind lewdly into her caustic valley. She knew what was coming; it would be just like the times she PuG-dropped against 8-man Steel Jaguar pre-mades....

... He growled savagely into her ear, "just relax and power down: it won't hurt as much"....

... His hands tore at her bodice; her alpine peaks spilling out ....

... Unbidden, she felt her desire beginning to course randomly through her like dumb-fired LRMs. His touch was soft enough to pilot a Spider, but strong enough to handle a Stalker ....

... As his pulsating AC/20 chain-fired his masculine ordnance into her, Cassie heard her voice screaming in pleasure; it sounded alien and echoing, like the feedback from Lt. Dan's microphone....

... She hadn't felt such shame since she last ran a pop-tart build. But, she felt a yearning as well, as if in one fell swoop he unlocked the basics of her femininity. She found herself hoping he would elite her... and master her....

I hope this isn't too much for these forums, but I really find this to be some of Xandros's best work. Because, let's face it, thank God the guy can write, because he can't pilot a 'mech worth shit.

I haven't touched MWO for at least 2-3 days. I haven't even patched up. I'm both afraid and excited to see what my SRM12 Trebuchet can bring to the table.

It's playable again Even shooting big targets, some of your shots will still disappear into the bit bucket, but I was still pulling off 400-600 damage rounds last night. I forgot how much fun that damn thing is.